Under No Certain Nihilism
by Verdot
Summary: Vincent tells Tifa a story. Some reference to Before Crisis canon. Unromantic.


Felt like putting something up randomly. This is angsty. And prolly confusing. And yes, it mentions Veld cause I adore the man. I do. People should check out the Before Crisis scripts on the web so they can see him in action and write about him. XD

* * *

He hadn't sat and brooded like this for years. She'd worn that out of him, somehow, one of those odd little ironies she would never figure out. With Cloud, it was only something that furthered the grand divide, but with this slowly domesticated Vincent, it let them talk past harsh whispers. If Vincent had a weakness it was children, and once they'd ensnared him, it was only a few more years before they'd ensnared each other into this comfortable sort of arrangement. There wasn't hot sex on the counter because she didn't want hot sex on the counter.

They had children to raise. He could just keep a hold of himself for that.

"Are you thinking about her?" She'd long since given up on being shy where Lucrecia is concerned. He'd plainly asked her about Cloud once and realized that with such an intrusion she also had a right to that. There were no illusions to what had impacted their lives the most. And there was always that unspoken agreement that if their ghosts should become too unbearable, the other would learn to understand.

Learn.

"It is funny you should assume that is what I would be thinking about."

"You're making that face. I know that face."

"I guess there is no hiding anything from you."

She had never liked the Vincent that came out of that box. Not the image that he wanted people to see, not that which had prompted him to sleep. They were one in the same, these things.

"Then what _is_ it you're brooding about?" He closed his eyes.

---

He'd chosen to sleep because if they assumed he was dead, they could get on with their lives. And in all reality, it was Ifalna that had prompted him to this decision. Hojo had let him free once he'd taken out his anger on his body... and he rightfully deserved so. It wasn't as if either of them would ever tolerate each other again, but Hojo had done his one exercise in free choice.

People always assumed he'd been _locked_ in that coffin. The fools.

If anyone was to blame for the dissappearance of Vincent Valentine, it was his old partner. Veld. Because Vincent was hiding from him, quite simply. Like a child that had done something wrong hiding from their guardian. Because despite his being a year or so older than the man, this was the more accurate arrangement.

Vincent was a glutton of _guilt_. And Veld would try and fix that and he couldn't have that happen.

But what was this story he was telling Tifa? Well, he supposed that all truths came to the surface eventually. He'd never talked about this because it was one of those things that proved he was self-idulgent in his most sacred pain. Though he would be loathe to start marking himself up with little cuts and wearing his hair long again. Yes, the hair had been one of the first things to go when they'd given up pretending they were alone in the world.

"Cloud and your company were not the first to stumble upon me in the Mansion." She tilted her head to the side.

"Then who did?" He blew the dust off the parchment of his memory.

---

He hadn't known what day it was. Not that it mattered, but it was jarring. A young man with a street accent was saying something about "spookies in the basement" when he felt the distinct sensation of someone knocking into his coffin. It was unintentional, considering the string of cursing that eminated from the culprit's mouth.

That was when the lid flew off.

Granted, he should have known that the man would throw a temper tantrum like that, he was alway more irritable in those sorts of places, the kind where dead things were. And he'd known who it was from the _presence_ more than the appearance. Because he'd been asleep for some time now, obviously. The grey hair was new.

They stared at each other for a few minutes before the rookie, as he was far too young for that suit he was wearing, spoke up and made it quite clear that he'd seen too many vampire movies.

"Holy fuck where's the garlic!"

The older man rolled his eyes. "This is an old time partner of mine, not a vampire, you half-wit."

---

"So partner, huh?" Tifa said wryly, interrupting his narrative. Yuffie had been the type to poke him about his slight adrogyny, and thus his preferences. She honestly didn't care, this was here and now and if she could forgive a mild obsession with a dead scientist, she could forgive just about anything. This is where her anger had now channeled. Into forgiveness. Much like Barret had done.

"Yes. Partner," he clipped, "Shinra instituted a buddy system."

"Explains a lot." She grinned. He raised an eyebrow. Yes, he looked healthier now that she'd made him cut that ridiculous hair and take off that ridiculous cape. The supposed man behind the monster was only marginally stable, she realized, but she'd always been drawn to unstable men. Next one would be Cid, at this rate.

Though she hoped to settle with this one.

---

"Veld." It would be later that Lucrecia would be the only name he uttered, but this was like things in the beginning, fittingly. Waking up for the second time, only this time he was unarmed and Veld was probably armed too much.

"So you are alive. Figured as much. Sleeping in, too?" Entirely too casual considering the circumstances. But then again, Veld wasn't in uniform while the other clearly was. So they'd both washed themselves of Shinra too? Though, he doubted it highly.

Even Lucrecia, who lived in a fairytale land far outside his reality, had said that he would never stop being... well, it was hard to put into words, really.

"I had grown weary." Veld scowled at that, as if it was said in poor taste. Then again, he looked twice the age he remembered. Maybe there was some degree of poor taste, considering the man looked like he'd been through a war. Had there finally been a real war? The thought tickled him.

Oh, he bet Veld had signed up right away, had that been the case.

"Flip? Could you check the perimeter? I think I heard something."

"I didn't--"

"Just do it."

Proud, stubborn, and commanding. Vincent had a weakness for that type of personality. Only Lucrecia was far softer about it. She whispered her bidding, soaking straight to his blood and bone. Then again, there was a reason he was sleeping in a box and his old partner was ordering people about and glaring at him like some kind of plague.

Of course, this was the part where Veld decked him.

---

"Oh!" Tifa squeaked out without thinking. It surprised her to think that she liked this man, for his stupid boldness. She could count the number of times she'd wanted to deck someone, particularly brooding type someones, on all her fingers and toes. And then some.

While she was at it, there were several people she would pummel. Starting with Zangan and ending with Barret. Chronologically, of course. She had always been inclined to care and to shield and to let people walk all over her. What good was being a fistfighter if she never used it for the basic functions of her craft?

That was self defense. Pure and simple.

"It did not hurt."

"No, I wasn't worried about you. Man, I wish I were like that. The man has guts."

"Had."

"What?"

"Let me continue."

---

Granted, it did sting a little. But he'd just gone and slept, and he felt it was right. He was dissatisfied with his life, and just because it might have pissed Veld off, oh well. He was only hiding from him because he would do just this. He didn't understand. He thought you could fix things. Well, he couldn't.

No one could.

"You ever use that tone around me again I'm taking limbs. I don't fucking care how weary you are. Or that you fucked up. Just get out of the goddamn box and kill yourself properly." Vincent blinked.

"You have grown bitter in your old age."

"And you've gotten more broody. Your point?"

The silence was stifling. He was suddenly aware that this was one of those times he should think carefully, consider his words and actions. So naturally he ignored that.

"I want to go back to sleep now. Just why are you in here anyway?"

"Truth."

It echoed, off the walls and into the hollow of the coffin. It clanged off the metal that had become his hand. But his footsteps didn't echo at all.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" An afterthought, as he was just settling back into the coffin, already closing his eyes.

"Yep. All dead. Just as I suspected."

---

"And then I slept and woke up when you people came stumbling into my room. I suspect that he is dead like the rest of us now. He would be in his sixties, and I know for a fact that a person of that kind cannot live past fifty." She hadn't blinked, hadn't breathed. Because maybe she was going just as crazy, but she could swear she could hear voices. A man and a woman, echoing off each other as he finished the story. Tifa wasn't haunted by ghosts of the past anymore, hers were alive and breathing. That didn't make them any less haunting.

_"You shall covet nothing."_

_"You will believe in nothing."_

_"Love conquers nothing."_

_"And when it's all over? You exhale and wait for your time."_


End file.
